


Maybe we were meant to be lonely, but not all alone

by justlarry



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Dancer Louis, Fluff, M/M, Tattoo artist Harry, sorry I suck at tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2013-08-23
Packaged: 2017-12-24 09:58:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/938601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justlarry/pseuds/justlarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry's a tattoo artist and Louis an interpretive dancer. Harry certainly does not have a crush on him.</p><p>(Title taken from The Fighter by the Fray)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maybe we were meant to be lonely, but not all alone

"Straight back Louis!" Louis straightened up as much as possible as he turned. "Alright, I'll see you all on Wednesday." Louis mopped his brow and waited for everyone to be gone, before standing up again. He had to get this part right,no matter how long it took. He played the CD again and stood in the centre of the floor. He started the routine before stumbling a little in his pirouette.  
"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. He needed to get this right, and fast. The performance was in 3 weeks and he was still having trouble. He did not want to be dropped this far into rehearsals. He started the music and the routine again. He got to the end only messing up once, and he decided to go home again. He picked up his duffel bag and headed for the door but when he looked up he realised he wasn't entirely alone.  
"Hi," he said, trying to get past.  
"You're really good."

~~~

"Harry where are you? Your shift started fifteen minutes ago."  
"I'll be there in five."  
"You better be."  
"Is that a threat Zayn?"  
"Just get here." Harry pulled a clean-looking shirt off the floor and pulled it over his torso before leaving his apartment. He opened the door to the tattoo place, met with glares from Zayn and Liam. "What took you so long?"  
"I was sleeping." They sighed and went back to work.  
"You've got an appointment in about two minutes."  
"Alright." Harry went into his room and set up his instruments. This is how his days usually went; late for work, draw a few sketches for tattoos, actually ink a couple of people and leave again. Today was no exception.  
"See you tomorrow Harry, try to be on time." Harry turned to see Liam with his arm wrapped around Zayn's waist.  
"Can't you keep your hands off each other until I leave?"  
"No can do mate."  
"You're just jealous, because you haven't found anyone."  
"Yeah, that's it," Harry replied sarcastically. They were right. Harry did want a relationship like theirs. He just hadn't found anyone yet. He left the shop and walked his usual way home before stopping in front of the arts centre. He had never actually gone inside before, but through the window he could see a single man, maybe a few years older than him, dancing. For some reason, Harry stood in the doorway watching him. He got quite far into the dance before tripping a little. He heard him swear under his breath before starting again. this time, the dance looked perfect. Harry had no expertise in dance, but it's quite obvious when you see someone that good, to know they're good. He finished his dance, still oblivious to Harry's presence until lifting his head as he approached the door.  
"Hi," he said, trying to get past.  
"You're really good."  
"Thanks, um, can I get past?"  
"What's you name?" Harry asked, ignoring his question.  
"I'm Louis."  
"Harry."  
"Well, Harry, I need to get home, so?" Harry didn't budge.  
"You don't think you're good at dancing, do you?"  
"What?"  
"When I said you were good, you seemed genuinely surprised. Do you not get told that a lot?"  
"I get more criticism than praise, if that's what you mean."  
"Well Louis, I'll let you go home now, but it was nice to meet you."  
"You too."  
"I'll see you around." Louis walked out of the studio, smiling to himself a little. Harry was content with himself as well. He rarely made people happy like that. But really, he was more happy, because he liked Louis. Louis was very handsome, and Harry was pretty sure most male interpretative dancers were gay, so there's a plus. 

~~~

"Harry?!" He snapped out of his daydream to be met by two pairs of glaring eyes.  
"What?"  
"We've been calling you for about ten minutes."  
"Oh sorry."  
"What were you thinking about?"  
"No-one. Nothing." Harry stuttered. Really he was thinking about Louis. He had found out when his next rehearsal was and all he could think about was when he would see him again.  
"Who are you thinking of?"  
"No-one. It doesn't matter."  
"Aww, I think our wittle Harry has a crush," Zayn laughed.  
"Shut up."  
"Who is he?"  
"No-one."  
"Come on."  
"Fine, his name is Louis."  
"Tell us about him."  
"You're acting like a pair of teenage girls."  
"We wanna know about this guy."  
"He's an interpretative dancer."  
"An interpretative dancer? I would not think that's your type."  
"If you're going to make comments every single time I take a breath, we're gonna be here a while."  
"Fine, carry on."  
"He's got brown hair, blue eyes, and a fantastic bum." Liam and Zayn cracked up at this. "It's true."  
"Our baby boy's growing up."  
"Shut up, and get back to work." They laughed and looked back down at their paperwork. Harry left the shop a little earlier than usual, just in case Louis didn't decide to stay after to practice. He stood outside the studio as the class filed out. Louis was not among them. He opened the door and peeked in, and saw Louis in the centre, dancing the same routine as last week. This time Louis noticed Harry's presence as he danced.  
"You're back," he smiled. Harry thought he had a beautiful smile.  
"Yeah, I wanted to see you dance again." Louis beamed in response and continued dancing. Harry just stood there in silence, watching every single move Louis made. "You're really beautiful when you dance you know?"  
"Am I not beautiful when I'm not dancing?" Louis joked.  
"I didn't mean that-"  
"I was joking, don't worry." Louis fingers traced around Harry's tattoos. "You've got a lot of tattoos," he whispered.  
"Yeah, it's my job."  
"You're a tattoo artist?"  
"Yeah. Do you have any?"  
"No, it doesn't really fit with my image."  
"I guess."  
"How old are you?"  
"22"  
"I'm 24." Harry nodded in response. The room was silent, but not uncomfortably. Louis' eyes were scanning all of Harry's tattoos, Harry's were focused on Louis' mouth.  
"Are you busy this Friday?" The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop himself.  
"I'm free."  
"Would you like to go out on a date?"  
"Yeah."  
"I'll pick you up at eight."  
"Here's my number." Harry smiled and took the little piece of paper from Louis' fingers.  
"I'll see you then."

~~~

"What's up with you? Why are you acting so happy?"  
"S'nothing Niall."  
"Come on Louis, why're you so smiley?"  
"I met someone."  
"You met a guy?"  
"Yeah."  
"And?"  
"And, we're going out tomorrow."  
"I'm so happy for you Lou, tell me about him."  
"His name is Harry, he's a tattoo artist."  
"Wait. A tattoo artist?"  
"Yeah, I know it's strange, but I like him."  
"What does he look like?"  
"He's got brown curly hair, green eyes and a perfect set of lips."  
"Aw Louis, you're smitten."  
"Shut up, Niall."  
"Admit it, you've fallen for him."  
"He's cute, and nice. Now shut it."  
"I can picture it now." Niall was stopped by a pillow to the face. "Hey," he whined.  
"I warned you."

~~~

"I need to get off work a bit early today," Harry smiled.  
"Why?"  
"I've got a date."  
"With Louis?" Harry nodded. "Aww, I knew you would ask him."  
"Yeah, it's tonight at eight, so I need to go at about six thirty."  
"Sure. You have to tell us exactly what happens though."  
"God, you two really are a pair of girls."  
"We're letting you off work, be nice."  
"Fine, I'll tell you everything that happens."  
"That's better. Now go, there's someone waiting."  
Harry got home by quarter to 7 and stood in front of his wardrobe, frowning.  
"There's nothing to wear!" He pulled out his entire wardrobe, shirt by shirt, shaking his head at every one. He looked up at the clock. Seven thirty. He needed to leave in fifteen minutes. Finally he chose a pair of jeans and a blue and white shirt. He walked up the pathway leading to Louis' house and rang the bell. When the door opened, Louis stood in front of him, looking handsome as always. This was the first time Harry had seen Louis out of his dance kit, and he looked very different. He had a pair of smart jeans on and a shirt with some obscure band's name written on.  
"Hi."  
"Hi." Harry took Louis' hand and led him to the car.  
"Where are we going?"  
"A place I know." Louis smiled and looked forward as Harry drove. They pulled up outside a restaurant, and Harry led Louis out the car into the building. "Reservation for Styles." Styles. Harry Styles. Louis ran over the name in his mind. It fit him very well. The waiter led them to a table and gave them a few menus before leaving them alone.  
"Harry Styles."  
"Now you know my full name, can I get to know yours?"  
"Tomlinson. Louis Tomlinson."  
"Louis Tomlinson. I like it." Louis smiled in response. "How's the dance coming along?"  
"Pretty good. I should be ready for the performance."  
"Performance?"  
"Yeah, as an end of term thing, we do a big performance with talent scouts and everything."  
"When is it?"  
"2 weeks tomorrow."  
"Nervous?"  
"A little, but I've done one before that wasn't too bad."  
"Hmm."  
"You could come, if you want. Each performer is allowed to bring two guests. I'm already bringing Niall, but you could come as well."  
"I'd love to. Who's Niall?"  
"Oh, he's my roomate, a friend from college. I think you'd like him. He's Irish and very loud."  
"I guess I'll meet him in two weeks."  
"What about you? What are your friends like?"  
"I've got two who run the tattoo place with me; Zayn and Liam. They're cool. Zayn's quite quiet before you get to know him, but then he's a lot more loud. And Liam, we've dubbed Liam as the sensible one. He's the one who gets us out of trouble."  
"They sound great."  
"Yeah."  
When the meal was over Harry took Louis home again. He got out of the car and walked to his door.  
"Harry?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I had a really good night."  
"Me too."  
"We should do this again."  
"Yeah." Louis leaned in and, without processing, Harry copied his action. The kiss was soft and gentle, and they only pulled away to breathe.  
"I'll see you soon."

~~~

"How was it? Tell us everything."  
"It was great. I took him to that restaurant down the road, and we had a really good night."  
"Did you kiss?"  
"Maybe."  
"How was it?"  
"It was great."  
"When are you next seeing him?"  
"We haven't sorted it out yet, but I'm going to his dance performance next Saturday. And I'll probably pick him up from dance today again."  
"Do you have a picture of him?"  
"Uh yeah." Harry handed Zayn his phone.  
"Wow."  
"What?"  
"If I wasn't taken, I'd be on that in a second." Liam nodded in agreement, not at all offended.  
"Well, you're taken, and I'm afraid, so is he."  
"You did good Harry."  
"Thanks."

~~~

"So how was your date?"  
"Amazing."  
"What happened?"  
"He took me to this really nice restaurant about ten minutes away, and we just had a good night."  
"How was the kiss?"  
"How did you know?"  
"The walls are thin,my dear."  
"It was great." Louis laughed.  
"I bet it was."  
"I invited him to the show, if that's okay?"  
"Yeah, I'd love to meet him. Do you have a picture?"  
"Here." Louis handed his phone to Niall.  
"Hmm."  
"Hmm what?"  
"Sounds weird, but I can kinda see you two together."  
"Just a week ago you were saying the opposite!"  
"Opinions change."

~~~

Harry and Louis were constantly texting, so much to the fact Liam threatened to take away Harry's phone while he was working. Harry finally slowed down the texting. It was now 3 days before the performance, and Louis had rehearsals all day every day. Harry always picked him up afterwards though, and drove him home. Finally the day came and Louis had to leave at seven to get ready so Harry and Niall were left together for the day.  
"So you and Louis? That's getting pretty serious?"  
"Yeah, I guess."  
"He really likes you."  
"I really like him too."  
"Good." The day was a bit awkward for them as they didn't have much to talk about, but it was okay. Harry liked Niall, and was happy to spend time with him, especially if it mant spending time with Louis. When they got to the theatre, it was already full and they had to stand towards the back.

~~~

"Louis? Are you ready to go on?"  
"Yes."  
"Alright, three, two, one." Louis stepped onto the stage, immediately feeling over a hundred pairs of eyes on him. He made his way to the middle of the stage before beginning his routine. When he could, he tried to find Harry and Niall somewhere in the crowd, and finally, towards the end of his solo dance, he found them standing at the back. Harry had a huge smile plastered over his face and Niall looked just as happy. His routine was done and he spun off into the wings.  
"Well done Louis. You were really good." This was one of the first pieces of praise his teacher had given him and Louis was even happier now.  
"Thank you."  
"I think Mr Knight will want a word with you after the show's finished." The smile on Louis' face grew and grew. He waited on the wings again for the group routine, and he was happy with that as well. Finally the night was over and Louis was changing in his dressing room when he heard a knock.  
"Come in." Harry and Niall opened the door and sat on the chairs as Louis changed.  
"That was amazing Louis. Honestly perfect."  
"Thank you guys, for coming. It means a lot." Harry wrapped his arms around Louis.  
"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," he whispered before pressing his lips onto Louis'. There was another knock. Louis pulled his shirt over his head and opened the door. In front of him stood Mr Knight.  
"Louis, just who I was looking for. Could I have a chat with you out here?" Louis nodded, trying to stop his hand from trembling, but god he was nervous. this man had the potential to make or break his career. Harry could sense his nerves and gave him a quick thumbs-up before the door closed. Finally the door opened again and Harry stood up and put his hands on Louis' shoulders.  
"And?"  
"I'm gonna be a dancer."  
"I'm so proud of you. I love you."  
"I love you too Harry." Their lips met, as gently as before.  
"Guys, come on, do this in private."  
"Sorry Niall," they laughed.  
"Let's go home."  
"Yeah." Louis and Harry sat in the back of the car together while Niall drove them all back.  
"You can stay over, if you want."  
"I'd love to." They pulled up outside their house. Niall was out of the car and Louis was just about to before Harry stopped him.  
"Wait." They both leaned in and kissed.  
"Not in my car guys, seriously?"

**Author's Note:**

> This is my favourite one I've written :) Kudos and comments are appreciated.


End file.
